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Ballard moved over, sat on the couch, and leaned down toward him. His face was on the terrazzo, turned to the side.
“I want my shit back,” she said. “All of it.”
“Impossible,” Delsey said.
“Why is that?”
“Because we don’t keep it, okay? I mean, I’ve still got the wallet and ID card but everything else is long gone, so you’re out of luck, Officer.”
“If that’s the case, then you’re the one who’s out of luck. You’ve got one shot here, Dino. Tell me where it went and I cut you loose. Nobody needs to know, not even your father.”
Delsey thought about it. After a moment Ballard prodded him.
“The clock is ticking,” she said. “All bets are off the minute Daddy comes through that door. What’s it going to be, Dino?”
“I hate that,” Delsey said. “Would you stop fucking calling me that?”
“Fine. What’s it going to be,Dean? I take off the cuffs or I take you to jail? I’m running out of goodwill here.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, I get it. Life’s a bitch. But it is what it is, Dean. So decide.”
“All right. We take everything to a guy down the beach. He gives us cash. That’s it.”
“What guy?”
“His name’s Lionel but he calls himself the Lion. I don’t know his last name. He’s connected to some serious people. My dad knew his dad up at Soledad.”
“Where is he exactly?”
“The Eldorado. He lives in one room and does business in another across the hall.”
Ballard knew of the Eldorado. It was a dump hotel about ten blocks up Speedway. “How do you reach out to him?” she asked.
“My dad texts him when we have stuff,” Delsey said. “That’s it.”
“You brought him stuff yesterday after ripping me off at Stair-cases?”
“Bobby did, yeah.”
“What kind of security does the Lion have?”
“I think there’s a guy there. But I don’t know for sure. My dad always goes.”
“What’s his number?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never texted him.”
“Then I guess we’re going to have to wait here for Bobby to show up. But then he’ll know that you snitched. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Look, I don’t know the number because it changes all the time. But I know where yesterday’s number is.”
“Where?”
“In Bo—uh, my father’s room. There’s a night table next to the bed. He’s got a pad in the drawer there and he scratches off the old number and writes the new one down every time.”
“And you said you still had my wallet with my ID card. Where is it?”
